Questioningly: Updated Holiday Carols

We’re well into the holiday season, which means we’re well into the shopping season, and the eating season, and the charity season—and also the singing season. Holiday carols and traditional songs have been part of the experience at least since Run-D.M.C.’s “Christmas in Hollis,” and possibly before that. Everyone knows about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and the Little Drummer Boy, and jingle bells, and the rest of them.

But tradition needs to be balanced with brave forward motion. Holiday songs need refreshing. They need updating. They need to confront the present and possibly the future: technology, ecology, changing mores.

That’s the thinking, at least, behind this week’s Questioningly, which asks for an updated holiday song. Not the whole song, though you’re welcome to record it, but at least a title. Maybe instead of “The Little Drummer Boy,” there’s a “Little Hand-Drum App Boy.” Maybe instead of “Winter Wonderland,” there’s “Indeterminate Season Wonderland.” Start there, and invent accordingly. Be denominational or nondenominational. Be respectful or disrespectful. Be satirical or silly. Your choice: that’s our gift to you.

So, that’s the week’s challenge: invent a new holiday song. Put your answer in a tweet, and don’t forget to include the hashtag #tnyquestion.

Illustration by Saul Steinberg.

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